Report 81 Enlightenment

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"To study the Buddha Way is to study the self, to study the self is to forget the self, and to forget the self is to be enlightened by the ten thousand things." Master Dogen

So difficult to write 'about' enlightenment, except to say that the idea of light=good/dark=bad seems still apparent in this word which must point beyond dualistic thinking and either/or, subject/object. I appreciate the above quote as a picture of a kind of flip... as describing what is shown in the ox-herding pictures and elsewhere as inward search culiminating in release/freeing of outward phenomena as none-other-than.

Mind and phenomena as co-dependently arisen and therefore 'freed' together.

Rest.

When we discussed naturalness a year or so ago there was this sense of dualistic projects/projections multiplying and layering in complexity which cause a sense of obscured vision and seems to force 'work' to overcome... much outward maneuvering and striving for independence from a flow (perhaps of linear time) which seems to work 'against'. Independent self storing up and reifying conditions.

'Seeking' enlightenment actually seems to reify or confirm an illusion of separation and of heaven/hell, self/other.

Once we awaken to the Tathagata-Zen,
The six noble deeds and the ten thousand good actions
Are already complete within us.
In our dream we see the six levels of illusion clearly;
After we awaken the whole universe is empty.

(snip)

Not supposing something is the Tathagata.
This is truly called Kwan-Yin, the Bodhisattva who sees freely.
When awakened we find karmic hindrances fundamentally empty.
But when not awakened, we must repay all our debts.

Another quote is attributed "Stonepeace" and I love its simple terms: "The foolish (fooled) are trapped by karma (conditions/duality), while the wise (awake) are liberated by it."

Haha... and I keep pushing edit to add things. Just one more. My favorite to post going into SL meditations:

I explain to you matters
Pertaining to enlightenment,
But don't try to keep
Your mind on them.
Just turn to the ocean
Of your own essence
And develop practical accord with its nature.